After playing 15 seasons in the majors Mark Loretta retired this week and immediately joined the Padres’ front office as a special assistant to the baseball operations staff.
Loretta has lived in San Diego since having the best stretch of his career as the Padres’ starting second baseman from 2003-2005 and also knows new general manager Jed Hoyer from their season together with the Red Sox in 2006, so it was an easy decision:

When you say the word retirement, it sounds like your retiring from life. I’m looking at this as the next step. I’m interested in how teams market themselves and business development. We don’t have anything set in stone. Jed is allowing me to experience and learn a whole different side of things. I’m looking at this year as an open-ended situation. I think that it will allow me to make decision on what I want to do.

In other words Loretta will get a taste of front office life this season and then decide if he wants to stay behind the scenes or pursue another on-field career as a hitting coach or manager. As for his playing career, Loretta was often perceived as a super-utility man because of his defensive versatility, but he was more than that as a two-time All-Star and career .295 hitter who walked nearly as often (555) as he struck out (605).
In fact, since the mound was lowered in 1969 only 12 middle infielders have logged at least 5,000 career plate appearances with a higher on-base percentage than Loretta at .360. The complete list: Joe Morgan, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Chuck Knoblauch, Willie Randolph, Roberto Alomar, Barry Larkin, Bobby Grich, Luis Castillo, Craig Biggio, Lou Whitaker, and Nomar Garciaparra. Some pretty decent company for a guy most casual fans have probably never even heard of.